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So let me get this straight: after a franchise best 70 wins last year and with a farm system bursting with MLB-ready talent, the D-Rays believe that the best way to spend 2005 is to play Gonzalez over Upton at 3B, Alomar over Cantu at 2B, and Baustista over Gomes/Gathright/Diaz in LF (until Baldelli returns).

Remember... remember when Alomar was one of the best young players in baseball? And he got all those hits? And hit that home run off Eckersley in the playoffs? And won Gold Gloves and finished near the top of the league in batting average? Remember that?

Remember... remember when Alomar was one of the best young players in baseball? And he got all those hits? And hit that home run off Eckersley in the playoffs? And won Gold Gloves and finished near the top of the league in batting average? Remember that?

It's Tampa Bay's All-Ex-Jays team (so if you played for the D-Rays first, you're not included). Is it unusual that they'd have an entire lineup of this type after less than a decade's existence? I suspect it is.

So let me get this straight: after a franchise best 70 wins last year and with a farm system bursting with MLB-ready talent, the D-Rays believe that the best way to spend 2005 is to play Gonzalez over Upton at 3B, Alomar over Cantu at 2B, and Baustista over Gomes/Gathright/Diaz in LF (until Baldelli returns).

I don't know if I had a premonition or what, but last night I was reading the new Bill James Handbook and I decided to look up Robbie Alomar.
Bill predicts Robbie will end his career with 3190 hits, and 510 steals.
He gives Robbie a 51% chance of getting 3000 hits (he needs 276 more). The only active player he gives a better chance of hitting 3000 is Raffy Palmeiro, who rates a 98% chance since he already has 2922.

And my baseball comment.....The DRays are flat out stupid for signing Alomar. They have plenty of options for 2B. Gonzalez was a ?????!!!!! signing, but I can see wanting one veteran for the infield. But both of them? Why have a farm system if you aren't going to play them???

I know that this is off the subject of dog poo and garbage but does anyone else think that the reluctance of some teams to sign non American born players has anything to do with players like Alomar and Ramon Martinez? If you look at their careers you will see and an early peak and a total falloff relatively young -- 34 for Roberto, 29 for Ramon. This would seem to call their reported ages in question. Taking this into account you could see that the Dodgers would be reluctant to sign Beltre, the Astros Beltran and the Red Sox Pedro as they could be up to four years older than reported.

If you look at their careers you will see and an early peak and a total falloff relatively young -- 34 for Roberto, 29 for Ramon. This would seem to call their reported ages in question.

Take a look at the drop-offs by non-Latino middle infielders, like Sandberg, Biggio, Yount, Ripken...they each had pretty serious drop-offs around age 34-35. Even Joe Morgan, who remained fairly productive after age 34, suffered a pretty big drop-off then.

As for Ramon Martinez, I think that's a really peculiar example, and I think you mischaracterize it. He didn't fall off a cliff at age 29--he was intermittently average-to-very good from 21-27, continued to be effective but injury-prone from 28-30, and then tore his rotator cuff at age 30. After that he was basically done, though he pitched a few more seasons. I'm sure we could think of dozens of pitchers of all races/nationalities who basically followed the same career path.

Taking this into account you could see that the Dodgers would be reluctant to sign Beltre, the Astros Beltran and the Red Sox Pedro as they could be up to four years older than reported.

Umm, no. The Dodgers actually lied about Beltre's age to make him *older* in order to sign him before his 16th birthday. Beltran is Puerto Rican, not Dominican. And if Pedro Martinez is really 4 years older it means he's Ramon's *older brother.

I'll bet you could find a write-up of a game from some time in the 60's that mentions Sandy Alomar becoming a dad.

There's a Jays media guide from the late '70s that has a picture of... was it Rico Carty? Someone like that. A guy then with the Jays. He was signing autographs for two little kids. The picture was taken during a spring training game between the Jays and Rangers (Sandy Alomar, Sr's team at the time), and the two little kids were Sandy Jr. and Roberto.